vintage - grace grits and gardening

Easy Peasy Breezy Vintage Hanky Bunting

June 15, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Haha. This is so simple it’s silly. Homemade bunting made from string or ribbon, teeny clothespins and vintage handkerchiefs (because everyone has a big stack, right?).

Right.

There’s just something about bunting and porches and summer. This vintage hanky bunting is cute for glamping or camping or decorating the barn for your next family reunion. Perfect for spiffing up your sidewalk lemonade stand or neighborhood porch party or vacation beach bonfire. Why let those vintage linens sit in a drawer all summer? They need to be clothesline, fresh-air, freeeeeee!

String up some ribbon or cord, pin up the handkerchiefs and there you have it. No sewing, because I don’t sew. Easy peasy breezy vintage hanky bunting.

As my blogger friend Jerusalem Greer calls it, homespun summer.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Easy peasy breezy #vintage hanky #bunting. #howto #homespunsummer [/tweetthis]

P.S. If by some odd coincidence you don’t have a drawer full of hankies, you can pick some up for a few dollars at flea markets everywhere. Or use craft paper. Or material scraps.

Musical Pairing:

Seals & Crofts, Summer Breeze

ode to the Pay Phone Booth

May 28, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

When was the last time you made a phone call from a pay phone booth? Heck, when was the last time you even saw a phone booth? While we’ve been busy texting and downloading and surfing the web, phone booths have disappeared right out from under our noses, much like the album store and the electric typewriter and a slew of other things I can’t think of because out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Sigh.

The phone booth in Prairie Grove recently received lots of attention when a lady fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into it. Since it only generated about four bucks in annual revenue, the Prairie Grove Telephone Company (serving the western portion of Washington County), debated about “retiring” it. Forced retirement is rarely a good thing. People took to social media and raised a hullabaloo about their beloved phone booth. It had become a photo op destination and part of what made Prairie Grove special. The phone booth was not only repaired, it’s been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

And that’s pretty cool.

Can you imagine all the phone calls placed in this small space since 1959? Words spoken. Promises made. Pleas pled by curfew-breaking teenagers. But mom…

The Prairie Grove phone booth is located in the parking lot of the Colonial Motel, across the highway from the Prairie Grove Battlefield.

There’s a phone book inside, too.

According to Smithsonian, the world’s first pay phone was installed at the corner of Main Street and Central Row in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. There’s a plaque to mark the spot. As phone booths become extinct, maybe Prairie Grove’s phone booth will someday be the last working pay phone booth.

Or maybe pay phone booths will become WiFi hot spots. It could happen. Maybe?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Dial N for #Nostalgia. Ode to the Pay Phone Booth. #PrairieGrove #NorthwestAr @artourism[/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Robert Cray – Phone Booth

Bring Back the Saddle Oxford!

July 5, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I think it’s high time the saddle oxford reappear on the fashion scene.

A few days ago, John and I saw Jersey Boys, the film version of the Tony-Award winning musical. Loved everything about it. If I could go back in time, I’d visit the 1950s. The iconic music. Poodle skirts. The jitterbug. The saddle oxfords…

In the 1970s, we wore saddle oxfords as part of our cheerleader uniforms. It took weeks to break in a new pair, and until that time, giant Band-aids protected our heels. In junior high, we sometimes threaded gold and black pom pons through the laces to match our uniforms.

Keiser Jr. High School Cheerleaders 1974

In high school, our saddle oxfords were red and white instead of the traditional black and white. I thought that was cool.

Men still have oxford options (especially with golf shoes), and some kids today wear saddle oxfords as part of their official school uniforms, but for the most part, saddle shoes have disappeared. Every other shoe style seems to have circled back. Platforms. Peep toes. Ballet flats. Clogs. But the saddle oxford? I think it’s high time. They go with everything.